Biochar Symposium in Japan: Biochar Utilization in Agriculture and Its Contribution to the Revitalisation of Local Society

The Local Human Resources and Public Policy Development System Open Research Centre (LORC) at Ryukoku University is hosting a 1 day symposium themed: Biochar Utilization in Agriculture and Its Contribution to the Revitalisation of Local Society – Citizens Participation in the Global Warming Countermeasures.

The aim of this symposium is to disseminate the message that charcoal can be a useful and important tool for promoting environmentally friendly local regeneration. In the symposium, international trends of the evaluation of biochar in agriculture and the current states of utilisation and standardisation of charcoal in Japan are first discussed, followed by the introductions of some practical activities of Kameoka Carbon Minus Project that involve local citizens.

LORC of Ryukoku University and the Regional Information Research Center of Ritsumeikan University are initiating a joint project called “Kameoka Carbon Minus Project” with Kameoka city, agricultural union and other local stakeholders, in which a series of activities for CO₂ reduction are developed and implemented. It is also seen as a local regeneration project, which developed and utilises new local branded products “Cool Vegetables”. They are produced in an agricultural method called “Carbon Sequestration Farming Methods”, in which biochar is mixed with soil and compost so that carbon is immobilized under the soil.

The symposium will take place in Kameoka-city.

For more information about LORC, please see: http://lorc.ryukoku.ac.jp/english/profile/allied.